Conor Benn Heads to 160 Next as Eubank Jr Trilogy Gets Shelved

Conor Benn's next move is a bounce-back at middleweight, not a third fight with Chris Eubank Jr. Benn's manager Keith Connolly has waved off trilogy talk for now, saying the priority is simply getting his man back in the win column after a brutal second-round stoppage loss to WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia (25-2, 20 KO) earlier this month.

Connolly told The Last Stand Podcast that the plan looks like 160lbs, with a possible Eubank rubber match down the line at 168 — the idea being to remove any weight excuses. That's a bold pitch. Benn, now 25-1 (14 KO) and 30 years old, would be badly undersized at super-middleweight, while a 37-year-old Eubank would only be helped by the extra 8lbs.

The Garcia Detour Backfired

Benn had only just dropped back to 147 for the Garcia fight, a division he hadn't touched in over four years and where he's never operated at world level. He'd made no secret of how grim the cut was, and it showed. Garcia landed a crushing right hand and closed the show inside two rounds.

That weight was always a stretch. Benn's welterweight résumé leans on stoppages of faded names like Chris van Heerden and Chris Algieri — useful, but not a foundation for challenging a champion of Garcia's level. Moving up to 160 makes sense on paper; it's closer to where his body wants to live.

Why the Eubank Trilogy Is Complicated

The Benn-Eubank saga carries baggage. Their original 2022 catchweight bout at 157 collapsed after Benn tested positive for clomifene. When they finally met last year at 160 — with a 170lb rehydration cap designed to sap Eubank — Benn lost a unanimous decision, then evened the series in the rematch, dropping Eubank twice in the twelfth to win by a wider margin.

So a decider makes commercial sense. But asking Benn to settle it at 168, after a stint at 160, flips the physical advantage toward the older man. Connolly's framing is that nobody can cry about weight if it's staged that high. The counter-argument is obvious: Benn would be the one giving it away. First things first, though — he needs a win before any of it matters.